Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool will ‘suffer’ in Champions League semi against Barcelona

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were beaten by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his team will “suffer” against Barcelona, but will also have chances in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.

The Reds meet the Spanish champions at the Nou Camp on Wednesday (20:00 BST).

“Will we be perfect? That’s not possible. Will we make mistakes? Oh, yes. Will we suffer? Oh, yes, 100%,” said the German.

“Will there be moments when we have a chance? Yes, 100%. I hope we will use them – that is what we will try to do.”

Klopp, who guided Liverpool to last season’s final, added: “We can feel completely free to play our game. It is a brilliant team here at Barcelona.

“We were in contention last year, but they have been in contention for nearly 20 years. It will be so difficult, but I couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity.

“I hope my players feel the same.”

Like Liverpool, Barcelona are five-time European champions.

However, four of those titles have come in the past 13 years, in contrast to Liverpool’s sole success since 1984, which came in 2005.

Indeed, last year’s run to the final came after Liverpool had failed to qualify for the competition in the previous season, while Barcelona are in the midst of an unbeaten run of 31 home games in the Champions League.

“I would say a draw would not be the worst result in the world, not that we go for it, but it would be OK,” added Klopp, who also took Borussia Dortmund to the 2013 final.

“So many people came to Barcelona and had a plan and in the end they got a proper knock.”

Liverpool are also fighting for a first domestic league triumph in 29 years, sitting two points behind Manchester City with two games to play.

However, even with Liverpool relying on City dropping points in order to win the Premier League, Klopp would not be drawn on whether the Champions League represented his side’s best chance of winning a trophy this season.

“We still have to play against Barcelona,” he said.

“We have a chance in both these competitions, but we have to play these games. I never understand when people think a game is won or lost before it is played.

“At the moment, I do not need to know which is the better chance for us to win. We will try to play our best football, then we will see what we can get from it.

“When we go home, we will not be playing against City, we will be playing against Newcastle. But nobody has to think about that game tomorrow, because it would be a massive mistake to play Barcelona with 15% or 20% of your mind on Newcastle.”